It as rinse and repeat night for the Wolfpack.

Once again, Park found themselves in an early hole, climbed out of it, but then couldn’t sustain the momentum In the second half.

The result was a 42-9 Forest Lake win.

Friday’s opening action was remarkably similar to last week’s Stillwater game in which the opponent jumped out to a quick two-touchdown lead, saw Park battle back to close the gap, but then the Wolfpack couldn’t continue their success after the break.

Visiting Forest Lake quickly punched in two touchdowns to open the game, but the Wolfpack battled back with a field goal and a touchdown to close to 14-9 just before the half. Park scored on a 21-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Kayde Brauch, then added a 5-yard touchdown run by senior running back Gabe Przekurat to make it a 14-9 game with 22 seconds left in the second quarter.

But then the Rangers dominated the third and fourth quarters, scoring four straight touchdowns to none for the Wolfpack. Back-to-back touchdowns runs of 67 and 66 yards in the third quarter by Forest Lake running back Mack Jurkovich completely took the wind of Park’s sails. Jurkovich finished the game with 193 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries.

The big plays are killing the Wolfpack, agreed Park head coach Rick Fryklund.

“They are,” said Fryklund. “Getting tired of that, we’ve got to fix that. It’s unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, it’s fundamental stuff. It’s angles. It’s tackling, it’s secondary knowing when to communicate about it.

“Offensively we’re playing great in the first half,” Fryklund continued. “But we’ve got to play great in the second half. The nice thing, or the most frustrating and maddening thing is those are very easily fixed by us. All credit again to Forest Lake. They’re a heck of a team. And we gave them a heck of a lot more than they bargained for, especially in that first half. But we can’t play two quarters anymore. We have to play four full quarters against everyone we have on the schedule.

“We had great strides week one to week two, playing another really good team,” Fryklund added. “I don’t know what they’re ranked but I know they’re pretty high and I put them in my top 10 for sure. But we showed that we can play a football game against the big boys. We have to play a complete football game not just a half of a football game. I see progress. I see fight. We just have to fix some things that are well within our control to do this next week when we play Hopkins”

Forest Lake outgained the Wolfpack 345 to 236 in total yards, with the Rangers rushing for 265 yards to just 116 for Park.

And once again key penalties hurt the Wolfpack, especially on offense. Park was flagged 7 times for 93 yards in penalties to 6 times for 37 yards for the Rangers.

Erickson completed 15 of 25 passes for 120 yards and had one interception. He also ran 5 times for 7 yards.

Przekurat led the Park rushing attack, running for 56 yards on 10 attempts. Olumide Aluko ran 10 times for 41 yards and Myles Colbeth had 9 carries for 25 yards. Kalab Miftah led Park in receiving, catching 6 passes for 62 yards with a long reception of 17 yards.

“Mostly that we need to be more accountable at our positions,” said sophomore lineman Carson Fritsche when asked what the Wolfpack take away from this game. “I feel like we played a really good game in the first half. And it kind of slipped in the second but I feel like we can really come back and get down and dirty with Hopkins next week.

“I know we get down on those big plays, but we’ve got to come back and get down and dirty again,” Fritsche added.

Defensively, junior linebacker Ricky Santos Jr. had 9 total tackles and two tackles for loss to top the Wolfpack. Linebacker Demetrius Stewart had 9 tackles and one tackle for a loss. Defensive back Nolan Sease had six stops while defensive back AJ Bergeron had four tackles, a tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery.

“I would probably say finish all four quarters,” said senior tight end/lineman Kellen Simmons when asked what the Wolfpack need to do to keep improving. “I feel the theme of the year so far has been taking breaks in halves and quarters which has really affected us in the long run. There’s nothing too major we can’t fix. We’ve got like five more games left. We can switch around the record real quick.”

Park’s schedule now lightens up considerably. As three of the most talented teams the Wolfpack ill face this season -- White Bear Lake (3-0), Stillwater (1-2) and Forest Lake (2-1) -- are in the rear-view mirror.

Four of the next five games should all be manageable as the Wolfpack hosts Hopkins (0-3) on Sept. 25, plays at seventh-ranked Wayzata (3-0) on Oct. 2, are at Coon Rapids (1-2) on Oct. 9, host Roseville (0-3) on Oct. 14 and finish the regular season at Eastview (1-2) Oct.23.

Friday night’s game against Hopkins is Park’s homecoming.

Hopkins dominated Park 45-21 last season at Hopkins, but this year the Royals have struggled early, losing 35-14 to Edina, 49-14 to East Ridge and 44-20 to Woodbury.

Metro Maroon Sept. 18 scores
Forest Lake 42, Park 9
East Ridge 36, Roseville 13
Woodbury 44, Hopkins 20
Eagan 48, Eastview 0
Andover 40, Coon Rapids 0

This week’s games
Hopkins (0-3) at Park (0-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Eastview (1-2) at Roseville (0-3)
Coon Rapids (1-2) at Blaine (3-0)